The problem, Krause suspects, is a lack of focus on workforce development over tax credits.
She says that investment in training programs in state and local colleges is key to revitalizing the workforce and livelihoods for the communities like Keyser.
Still, there are some programs trying to prepare a new workforce.
West Virginia native Josh Bowes, 31, is a participant at the Advanced Technology/Wind Energy Program at Eastern West Virginia Community and Technical College, in Moorefield.
Bowes decided to change careers from contracting and construction. He commutes two hours each way from his home in Morgantown. He's in his last semester of the two-year program at the college, where he's learning to be a wind turbine technician.
"I want to stay here, and I want to see our state move forward," he says. "We have to modernize. We have to do what's best for our state, the country, the world, you know?"
Some of his classmates take a less idealistic approach.
For fellow student Dakota Swick, 28, the decision to enroll in the turbine technician program was practical, one he hopes will offer stability and a living wage.
"I've been working paycheck to paycheck ... working for this guy and that guy just to make maybe $200 or $300 a week," says Swick. "I'm hoping this will be the career — either the career job or the path to the job — that I'm going to stick with."
